5 David Attenborough Documentaries To Change The World

4. State Of The Planet (2000)

This three part series is the earliest of our entries, a fact that may ruffle a few feathers. However, it’s clear to see that as the millennium passed, Attenborough’s focus began to shift from purely educating us about the marvels of the natural world, to educating us about how we’re destroying it. As such, State Of The Planet was the first of his films to really carry a marked change in tone, as conveyed by the series’ opening monologue:

"... it’s now increasingly apparent that one species, our own, has developed the unique ability of so altering its surroundings, that it can destroy whole species, indeed, whole environments."

Without carrying the same sense of urgency provided by more recent documentaries, State Of The Planet certainly introduced the idea that the planet, and our use of it, has its limits. Therein, Attenborough explored how our elevation into space provided a new perspective on our activity and emphasised that damage on the scale we inflict it is untenable. Society, he concluded, must change.

It’s a sobering thought that, two decades on, Sir David finds himself restating that message more urgently. Nevertheless, State Of The Planet certainly earns its place on our list.